The New Beginning
by AlexMichele
Summary: This is what happens after the battle. one-shot This is my first fan-fic, its better than the summary says. Please R&R!


"I've had enough trouble for a life time,"

Harry, Ron, and Hermione laughed and then turned to see the demolition zone of what was left of Hogwarts Castle.

"Harry, put your cloak on so you don't draw attention to yourself," Hermione said, as she moved to the other side of Ron so she could hold his hand as they headed back towards the Great Hall.

"I'm going to look for someone, I'll be… around," Harry said, as he pulled his cloak over his head.

Ron and Hermione looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders. They went to be with the rest of the Weasley's who were still grieving over the lifeless bodies of Tonks, Lupin, and Fred. When Harry entered the Great Hall, he looked around until he found her.

Ginny was standing by one of the few windows in the castle that had remained unbroken, silently crying and watching those still lingering outside. Harry wanted nothing more than to hug and comfort her because he knew she was close to both Fred and George and was taking the loss of Fred almost as badly as Mrs. Weasley and George. Unlike anyone else, Ginny was also close to Tonks. She spent many hours with Tonks while she was staying at her parent's house far out of harms way, and Ginny had grown quite fond of her. Now she had lost not only her brother, but a close friend. The last thing that Harry wanted to do was draw everyone over to him and Ginny, so he took the cloak and walked up behind her and put it around her as well. At this, she jumped and turned.

"Oh, it's only you," she said, as she buried her face in his neck. The two of them stayed like that for what seemed like forever, but was only a few minutes when Harry saw Ron and Hermione headed their direction.

"Really, Harry, you ought to remember that you are a little big for that when you have company under it with you, your feet are showing," Hermione said. Ginny pulled back to look at Harry's face. He hugged her to him one last time and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before releasing her and covering his feet with the cloak.

"What do you two want?" Harry questioned. Ron began to answer but was interrupted by Professor McGonagall.

"For those who wish to have their beloved ones buried here on Hogwarts grounds, the other members of the staff are making graves by the tomb of Albus Dumbledore. It will be the graveyard for those who died in the battle of Hogwarts and fought alongside Mr. Harry Potter who has defeated Lord Voldemort, for good. For those who wish to bury their beloved ones elsewhere and wish to do it themselves, you may take your beloved ones by Apparition and return to your homes or your preferred burial site.

All those who died, will always be remembered by those who are living and we shall know that they died willingly, for they knew what they were getting into when the fight began, and they had their chance to make their leave. Instead they fought bravely and courageously and died knowing it was all to stop the Dark Lord."

At this many people began to cheer. Harry was thankful for the cover of the cloak, because he knew if he had been seen anywhere the crowd would have all bombarded him again. When the cheering died down and Ron could hear himself talk, he turned to the spot where he knew Harry had not moved from.

"Mum wants to have Tonks, Lupin, and Fred buried near our place. She said she and dad are going to take Fred, Percy and George have Lupin, Hermione and I have Tonks, Harry, you'll take Ginny and Bill and Fleur are going to stay and help those who are having their family buried here.

"Hermione, this summer, will you teach me to Apparate? I'm never going to learn how otherwise!" Ginny said angrily.

"Of course Ginny, although I would have to make sure it's alright with the ministry. After this they'll be cracking down on everything. Seeing as though your dad works there, it shouldn't be a problem," Hermione replied, looking toward the table where Mrs. Weasley was waving them over. The four of them walked to see what she wanted.

"Have any of you seen Harry? I see that you have managed to relay my message to Ginny, but of course I'm not leaving until I know that she will be safely brought home, and I figured she would want Harry bringing her home," Mrs. Weasley said, talking mostly to Ron and Hermione, and hugging Ginny to her.

"Mrs. Weasley. I'm right here," Harry said, lifting the cloak so she could see him.

"Oh, okay then dear, here you are," she said letting go of Ginny and nudging her towards Harry. Harry took Ginny's hand and lifted the cloak over her letting their feet show again.

"Alright then, here we go, to the lonely pasture of grass behind the garden everyone," said Mr. Weasley, as he and Mrs. Weasley each took hold of Fred, and as the other four took hold of Tonks and Lupin. Harry held Ginny close to him and told her to hold on tight.

Moments later they all appeared at the pasture behind the garden. Harry, knowing that no one here was going to pounce on him, took his cloak off and stowed it away in his pocket.

"Alright there Ginny?" he asked as he turned to look at her.

"Fine," she replied taking his hand and turning to watch, as three graves seemed to make themselves. Two of them were close together, while the third was two feet off to the side. The two close together were for Tonks and Lupin. With a flick of her wand, Mrs. Weasley conjured up three coffins. Two normal brown ones and one pink one. Carefully Lupin and Fred were placed in the normal colored ones and Tonks was placed inside the pink one.

Wordlessly, Mr. Weasley moved one coffin at a time into the three pre-dug holes. As he began to cover them, Hermione and Ginny began crying and started hugging each other before turning to Ron and Harry. Percy brought three tombstones, each with their names and birth dates on them.

On the back Harry thought it was appropriate to add, "Who fought bravely during the battle of Hogwarts and the end of Voldemort's reign," so that when Teddy and any future family would know how they died and know that they died to end the most powerful dark wizard in time.

As they said their good-byes to the dead and turned to go in the house for some hot tea and a good night's rest, Ginny watched Ron and Hermione go off to be alone. She took Harry's hand and led him behind the house where she had her own personal garden of flowers. No one ever went there because few people knew the exact location. Ginny asked Hermione charm it so that no one but the two of them and those she trusted could see it.

Harry followed her, not knowing what he wanted. He was longing for Lupin and Tonks to come back. He and Lupin had just begun to fix things and Tonks, her little Teddy would never grow up around her light heartedness, he would never be able to see her bubble gum pink hair fade from one color to another depending on her moods. Then again, Harry was happy to be finally alone with Ginny. He hadn't been truly alone with her since his seventeenth birthday, where they had shared their last kiss. A kiss that they both believed would have been their last, but now knew it was far from.

As far as Ginny was concerned, she was never going to let him out of her sight, Harry however wasn't so sure about that. Abruptly Ginny stopped walking, and Harry, lost in thought of what was to come, almost fell over her when she stopped.

"Oops, sorry Ginny," he said as he caught them both before they fell.

"I wouldn't have minded if we had fallen," she muttered to herself. In the distance they could see the outline of Ron and Hermione who seemed to be kissing. It reminded Harry of the time almost two years ago, before things went wrong, when he and Ron had stumbled upon Ginny and Dean in an empty corridor of Hogwarts kissing.

Ginny said nothing but simply turned to him, hugged him, and lay her head on his chest. It wasn't until about 5 minutes later that she lifted her head to stare into his emerald green eyes.

"I have never seen any one with eyes brighter than yours," she said, before she leaned in to kiss him. Harry at first wasn't so sure that he was in the mood to kiss her, but as she pulled away and was about to ask him if he was okay he pulled her face back to his and began kissing her back.

After several minutes of kissing, they sat down on the damp grass and stared at the stars and the full moon. In the distance, Harry heard a lone wolf howling, thus making him miss the fact that Lupin would never again walk on the same grounds as he used to and would never be able to see his son grow up. Ginny leaned her head on his shoulder and whispered

"I love you," before closing her eyes.

"I love you too," Harry said as he pulled her closer and put his arms around her. He too was tired so he lay down and Ginny lay off to his side curled up against him.

Before he knew it, the sun was shining brightly in their faces and he believed to hear the voices of Ron, Hermione, and the rest of the Weasley's calling for Ginny and him.

Of all of them, Hermione was the only one who knew the location of Ginny's garden, and she was the only one who would have found them had she come looking. Harry looked at Ginny, asleep beside him and decided he would try not to wake her, but to carry her back and tuck her into her bed. However, as he tried to sit up holding her, she woke up.

"Everyone is looking for us, we must have fallen asleep," Harry said.

"Yeah, I bet they're thinking that we ran off and got ourselves hurt," Ginny replied as she stood up, stretched, and yawned. Taking Harry's hand, she led the way back to the front of the house, calling out as they went,

"It's okay everyone we're fine, just fine," and then as they neared the front of the house, everyone was standing around asking what had happened and where they had been.

Suddenly, Harry was glad that she had awoken, because now that he thought about it, bringing her back sleeping would, from a distance, look like he was bringing her back dead, and that would only make matters worse.

Ginny and Harry looked at each other but said nothing. Harry was in no mood to talk over them and from the looks of it, Ginny felt the same way. After about a moment or two they quieted down and realized that the quietness was what Ginny and Harry were waiting for.

"We went out by Ginny's flower patch," Harry began.

"We laid down to look at the moon and stars, and we fell asleep," Ginny finished.

"As you can see, we are okay and there isn't any need to worry," Harry added. Everyone looked at one another and then looked back to Ginny and Harry.

"Let's all get inside and have some breakfast," Mrs. Weasley said skeptically, "I'll make the Weasley favorite," she ushered everyone in to the house and stopped to give both Ginny and Harry a hug.

Before entering the house, Harry looked around to see the three graves and then reached up to his forehead and felt the scar, he hoped would never burn again.

* * *

**Authors Note: **All credit goes to J.K. Rowling for the use of places, characters, and the first line which comes directly from the very end of Deathly Hallows.


End file.
